Technology Technology Cellular Highways’ products are based on VACSTM (Vortex Actuated Cell Sorting), a new technology for deflecting cells in a flow cytometer, enabling fast, gentle, scalable microfluidic cell sorting. Cellular Highways’ technology is protected by several patent families in all the major territories. For the invention of VACSTM, we were awarded the 2020 Lee Lucas Award by the Institute of Physics. Cell sorting with an inertial vortex The vortex that deflects the cells can be visualised in computational fluid dynamics (CFD). A thermal inkjet-type microresistor is used to generate a thermal vapour bubble that causes a transient vortex that deflects cells present in a small packet of the flow path. Peer reviewed publications The VACS technology has been used to demonstrate both the smallest high-speed cell sorter in the world and the fastest cell sorter in the world. See our two peer-reviewed papers: Pritchard et al. Lab on a Chip (2019)10.1039/c9lc00120d Zhukov, et al. Micromachines (2021) 10.3390/mi12040389 Machine vision automation We use innovative machine vision techniques to automate the sort process for a truly walk-away sorting instrument. The system automatically captures images of a sample of sort events, and measures the trajectories of cells within the microfluidic channel. This allows the continuous adjustment of actuation timing and amplitude, and live checks of the quality and output of the sort process. Our chips have a unique mechanism to clear out debris instead of letting it clog the microchannel. Software Easy analysis, eay sample handling, and fully automated control of the instrument with our HighwayR software. Exports FCS 3.1 cytometry data files. The Cellular Highways Technology at CYTO 2019 Our co-founder Samson Rogers gave a seminal talk about our core technology at CYTO 2019, when Cellular Highways was spun out.